Saturday, October 31, 2015

Merkel Faces Crisis As German Ruling Coalition Collapses

German Chancellor Angela Merkel faces a crisis in her ruling coalition after Bavarian Premier Horst Seehofer demanded she take steps to halt the tide of illegal immigrants entering the country. To have any chance of surviving, the government must present new initiatives for controlling illegal immigration, deal with the critical situation on the Austrian border, where thousands of migrants are flocking into Germany on a daily basis and start applying German laws equally to established German citizens and Muslim migrants.

Shortly after Herr Seehofer dropped his bombshell, Merkel pleaded for patience, saying that there were no quick fixes to the crisis. The Süddeutsche Zeitung reports that the pair will meet with Social Democratic Party (SPD) head Sigmar Gabriel on Sunday. It is unlikely the Chancellor's plea will find much support, the migrant crisis has been going on for over two years, during which time Merkel has, until recently, been encouraging more undocumented migrants to make their way illegally across many borders to get to Germany.

Mr Seehofer, head of the Christian Social Union (CSU), Braviarian sister party to Haudfrau - Volkfuhrer Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU) has demanded that the government change course immediately. Since the beginning of August at least 318,000 asylum seekers have arrived in Bavaria, the German federal state which borders Austria and therefore is on the route from Turkey, via the Balkans.

The Bavarian minister-president again called for emergency measures to deal with the influx, including setting a limit on the number of new arrivals Germany will let in and building border control centres to screen migrants before they set foot in the country.

He has gone as far as to threaten to take the federal government to the German constitutional court. Private actions by German citizen groups are launching bids to prosecute Merkel for treason.

As she looks for ways to defuse the political unrest over the open-door policy, Merkel also confronts waning public approval after repeatedly insisting that Germany has an obligation to welcome all migrants (including terrorists, sex offenders, murderers and Islamic hate preachers) from the Middle East. Backing for her CDU slipped two points to 36 per cent this week, down from an August peak of 43 per cent, according to a weekly opinion poll.

Meanwhile Germany agreed with Austria on Friday to establish new rules for a more “orderly” passage of migrants.

After a week in which tensions flared between the neighbour states, Germany’s interior minister said that the people now massing at its borders with Austria would be funnelled through five entry points.